Kenyon College Years of Service Recognition Program Thursday, June 18, 2020 Eleven O’clock in the Morning Table of Contents Five Years 1 Ten Years 15 Fifteen Years 20 Twenty Years 29 Twenty-Five Years 35 Thirty Years 38 Thirty-Five Years 39 Forty Years 42 Distinguished Service Awards 43 Five Years Diane C. Anci Vice President for Enrollment Management and Dean of Admissions The most critical resource for Kenyon is its students, and it is a resource that must be renewed each year. They come from all over the nation and all over the world, but they do not arrive spontaneously; the enrollment of a class is the product of an intentional process, guided by data and analysis but executed with heart and personal touch. And Diane stewards it all, feeling as comfortable in the worlds of databases and matrices as she is in the efforts of building strong personal connections with people (in individuals or groups). She works with intense energy, creativity, and urgency, all the time keeping institutional priorities, market pressures, and the needs of individual students all within her view. The grind of the admissions cycle can be relentless (the next recruitment season begins even before the current season concludes), but it never seems to grind Diane down. Each new year brings new challenges, and she is always prepared to take them on. And as a result, Kenyon moves forward, stronger each year. —Sean M. Decatur, president Jennifer C. Anderson Custodian Jen Anderson is always happy-go-lucky, with a positive attitude and a gift for understanding. You would hear about these characteristics from any of Jen’s co-workers who were asked to describe her. In the past, Jen has worked in a number of buildings, and on different shifts, before recently joining the day shift. She and her partner currently clean Bushnell, Leonard, and Samuel Mather halls. In her free time, Jen enjoys spending time with her daughter, Colleen, her son, Bobby, and his wife, Rachel, along with grandsons Bernie and Kellan. Thank you, Jen, for being such a dedicated worker and for your five years of service. —Lori H. Moore, assistant manager of facility services Brittany L. Balo Technology Support Specialist 1, Library and Information Services As a Library and Information Services (LBIS) technology support specialist, Brittany Balo has established herself as a valued member of the Kenyon community. She is highly adept at problem solving, as her technical skills 1 are strong and matched only by her customer-service ability. Brittany’s pleasant demeanor shines through even while assisting users and trouble- shooting complicated issues with hardware or software. In fact, her sense of humor is often just what’s needed in user services as well as out “in the field” working on a troublesome computer. Brittany’s ability to pivot rapidly between tasks when challenges arise is of benefit to faculty and staff members and students alike, as her days are filled with complex challenges. An accomplished manager of student workers, she is eager to learn about and support all College divisions. In her five years at Kenyon, Brittany has developed a very strong understanding of the many functional units at the College, making her a multifaceted member of the team. She has served on several work teams, including Kenyon Staff Council, LBIS search commit- tees, and the Computer Configuration Team—for the betterment of LBIS and the College. All of us at Kenyon appreciate her hard work and helpful nature, especially when she shows up at our doors with the “gift” of a brand new replacement computer! —Paul H. Mollard, director of user services, Library and Information Services Meredith Harper Bonham Vice President for Student Affairs Kenyon is, at its core, an educational institution. But to our students, the College does so much more: at various times it serves as a landlord, a health-care provider, managers of safety and security, sports league and fitness center, governance body and judiciary. As vice president for student affairs, Meredith Harper Bonham makes all of these aspects of Kenyon work, not only managing the day-to-day operations of a wide-range of activities, but also building a larger strategic framework to align these functions with our educational mission. All of this work is informed by her deep understanding and alumna-inspired love of the institution. In any given week, Meredith does it all—rides along with campus safety officers, plans improvements for our residence halls, celebrates student accomplishments, mourns with students at times of loss, and most importantly listens and cares with passion and love for all of the College community. This passion extends beyond her standard work duties—I’ve even seen her play “Capture the Flag” with passion and intensity. Mer- edith’s heart is a deep and bright purple, and we are fortunate to have it beating with us in Gambier. —Sean M. Decatur, president 2 Robyn L. Bowers Senior Associate Dean; Director of Admissions Recruitment and Selection Enrollment success depends on very careful management of the admissions funnel. At the top of the funnel, you find a college’s inquirers—imagine those high-school juniors who get lots of mail after they take their PSAT or those who request more information at college fairs and school visits. Further down the funnel, you find a college’s applicants, then admitted students, then enrolled students at the funnel’s tip. To be sure, significant human and financial resources are invested in this funnel in order to successfully move the students the college most desires from the top of the funnel to the bottom. Over the course of Robyn Bowers’s five years at Kenyon, she has assumed increasing responsibility in the management of the College’s admission funnel. As an important member of the team that works closely with Kenyon’s econometric modelers, she has implemented a highly strategic and data driven approach to the establishment of the funnel. In other words, she makes sure we are populating the funnel with the students most likely to be successful at the College and those who also support our enrollment goals. All of that good thinking and planning is then applied to Kenyon’s travel program. When the entire admission staff travels from Labor Day to Thanksgiving, conducting school visits and college fairs across the country and around the world, confidence and success are achieved when staff members are both strategically deployed and well trained to communicate about the College in accurate and enthusiastic ways. After travel ends, and as we inch closer to goals, it’s time to read applications and make decisions that have the power to change not only in- dividual lives, but families, communities, and Kenyon’s future. Once again, Robyn serves as a skilled coordinator ensuring that each and every applica- tion and the process as a whole is handled with consistency, objectivity, and care. Her generous partnership with colleagues in financial aid helps mitigate risk while distributing precious College resources in judicious ways. Enrollment success also depends on staff members who are skilled in the art of managing competing priorities. It does not work to simply focus on college needs, and it does not work to solely focus on students and their stories no matter how compelling they are. Robyn does this beauti- fully in the real relationships she forms with students in her own territory. Kenyon benefits from her leadership as she helps the staff manage these tensions and develop the skills necessary to make a difference in the lives of students and in the College’s future. Congratulations, Robyn, on your five-year anniversary at Kenyon. —Diane C. Anci, vice president for enrollment management and dean of admissions 3 Benjamin L. Daigle Director of Consortial Library Systems, Five Colleges of Ohio, Inc. Looking for that perfect source in the library? The online search engine that leads you to the book, the video, the journal, or the website is the heart of the Ohio Five, which banded together twenty-five years ago to create the CONSORT shared-library system across our colleges. The best of these systems adapt and grow to serve changing needs, and so has Ben Daigle, who began at the Ohio Five as that system’s administrator and now does so, so much more. In just five years, while supporting library staff initiatives and keeping our library systems current and efficient, he has also led the Ohio Five’s Mellon-funded digital-scholarship initiative as project director. Ben has shepherded forty-five faculty digital-research projects, presented our work at national conferences, and helped faculty members integrate digital practices and tools, such as GIS mapping, data analytics, and text encoding, into their research and classrooms. This project—CODEX, the Collaborative for Digital Experience and Engagement—will grow in the next few years under his expert project-management skills to serve more faculty members, librarians, and technologists. Ben’s talent for collaborating around a germ of an idea, supporting it with his exceptional technical know-how, and bringing that inspiration to fruition has made an enormous difference to us at the Ohio Five, the many library staff and faculty members he supports, and the wider group of educational practitioners who seek to harness technology in the service of our colleges’ educational missions. –Sarah Stone, executive director, Five Colleges of Ohio, Inc. Theresa J. Dunnavant Director of Class Giving, Office of Annual Giving Terry Dunnavant is the unofficial “cheerleader-in-chief” for the Office of Annual Giving; her kindness and compassion for her coworkers is evident in every interaction. Her people skills and her ability to translate new in- formation and teach it to others is a testament to her patience and intellect.